Linux Tips

You can create and Modify ISO9660 files (iso images) graphicaly in ubuntu by using an open source Linux application ISO Master Features: 1. Create an ISO image from scratch. 2. Add or remove files and directories to a CD iso image. 3. Make bootable CDs 4. Support for Rock Ridge and Joliet file names. ISO Master can read .ISO files (ISO9660, Joliet, RockRidge, and El Torito), most NERO .NRG files, and some single-track .MDF files. $ sudo apt-get install isomaster

Installing some common fonts. There are a number of very common fonts, which you can install through APT/Synaptic, including the Microsoft TrueType core fonts (e.g. Arial Black, Times New Roman). Before installing, make sure you enable the extra repositories, (If your not sure how to do this please see: Repositories/Ubuntu ). Install the fonts: $ sudo apt-get install msttcorefonts texlive-fonts-extra Installing Other fonts You can also use many other fonts, like those downloaded from dafont.com . There are two options when installing: one to install them for a Single User , this means that only this user can use them, or installing them for System Wide use, so that every user on the system can use the fonts. Single User: Once you have downloaded and unpacked your font files (.ttf, .TTF) , you will need to create a ~/.fonts if it doesn't exist. $ mkdir ~/.fonts Copy the font files to the .font directory: $ cp *.ttf ~/.fonts $ cp *.TTF ~/.fonts Now we need tell the system about the

Swiftfox is an optimized Mozilla Firefox which has different builds depending on your processor which makes it much faster than the normal Firefox because that's compiled to work for everybody, but not optimized for a specific processor architecture. Take a look at this chart and see which Swiftfox version is best suited for your computer based on your processor. Install Swiftfox in Ubuntu / Debian? Ubuntu (and all Debian based distribution) users will be pleased to know that it even comes with a repository which you can add by issuing the following command in a terminal: sudo sh -c "echo 'deb http://getswiftfox.com/builds/debian unstable non-free' >> /etc/apt/sources.list" and then, to install Swiftfox: apt-get update apt-get install swiftfox-xxxxxxx I for instance, have an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, so I have to install the Prescott version: apt-get update && apt-get install swiftfox-prescott Install Swiftfox on other Linux distributions? If you

To install the latest Firefox 3.5 (final) or Firefox 3.6 in Ubuntu , open a terminal and type: sudo sh -c "echo 'deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mozilla-daily/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main' >> /etc/apt/sources.list" sudo sh -c "echo 'deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mozilla-daily/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main' >> /etc/apt/sources.list" Then add the Launchpad PPA GPG key: sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 247510BE And finally, install Firefox 3.5 or 3.6 sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install firefox-3.5 or sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install firefox-3.6 If you already have a version of Firefox 3.5 installed from a repo then upgrade it: sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade courtesy: http://webupd8.blogspot.com/2009/06/firefox-35-rc-1-ubuntu-repository-deb.html

Want to quickly set the route for your machine from the terminal. Start by opening up a terminal window, and type the following, just make sure you have the ip address of your gateway to do so. route add default gw IP ADDRESS eth0 We can see our changes by typing: route -n

The Lubuntu project (Ubuntu based on LXDE) just published it's first ISO . LXDE is a very lightweight and minimal desktop environment using the openbox window manager, the PcManFM file manager, and a very select list of default applications. It is compatible with basic freedesktop standards and all needed parts are already packaged in Ubuntu today. Lubuntu is based on Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) and these are some of the applications that come with it: · Linux Kernel 2.6.31 RC8 · Openbox 3.4.7.2 · Firefox 3.5.2 · Pidgin 2.5.8 · Aqualung R-1061 · Xfburn 0.4.2 The final version is planned to be synchronized with the Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala, and is scheduled for the 29th of October, 2009.

Want to back up files and documents on your laptop or desktop PC to a server? Assuming both machines run Linux, you can do that with just one command. First, install SSH server on the server and rsync on your machine. Open then the terminal on your machine and run the following command: rsync --progress -avhe ssh --delete /path/to/local/dir user@host:/path/to/remote/dir Replace user with the name of the existing user on the server and host with the IP address of the server. Using your server to serve files also requires only one command. Start with installing the sshfs package on your machine. sshfs user@host:/path/to/dir /mountpoint -o idmap=user -o uid=1000 -o gid=1000 Replace user with the name of the existing user on the server and host with the IP address of the server Once the directory has been mounted, you can use the files in it as they were on your own machine. To unmount the directory, use the fusermount command as follows: fusermount -u /mountpoint

Using the following command, you can check your unread messages in gmail, from terminal: $ curl -u username --silent "https://mail.google.com/mail/feed/atom" | perl -ne 'print "\t" if / /; print "$2\n" if /<(title|name)>(.*)<\/\1>/;' replace username with your gmail username. This command will promt for your password, enter it and view your unread in your gmail account .

SystemRescueCd is a Linux system rescue disk available as a bootable CD-ROM or USB stick for administrating or repairing your system and data after a crash. It aims to provide an easy way to carry out admin tasks on your computer, such as creating and editing the partitions of the hard disk. It comes with a lot of linux software such as system tools (parted, partimage, fstools, ...) and basic tools (editors, midnight commander, network tools). It can be used to perform admin tasks on both Linux and Windows. Download Link : Download - SystemRescueCd

LuckyBackup is a backup and sync application running on Linux and Mac OSX, powered by the rsync tool. It is simple to use, fast (transfers over only changes made and not all data), safe (keeps your data safe by checking all declared directories before proceeding in any data manipulation ), reliable and fully customizable. Installing luckyBackup : Ubuntu Linux users: open a terminal and paste the following commands to add the luckyBackup PPA repository. sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 62E44DBB echo "deb Index of /luckybackup-maintainers/ppa/ubuntu `lsb_release -sc` main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources Then install luckyBackup: sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install luckybackup

The Network Time Protocol (NTP ) is a protocol for synchronizing the clocks of computer systems over packet-switched, variable-latency data networks. NTP uses UDP port 123 as its transport layer. It is designed particularly to resist the effects of variable latency. NTP sometimes greatly slows down your Ubuntu’s boot time. To disable it just do a simple code... sudo apt-get remove ntpdate

If you want to have Flash support in Google Crome, the Linux version, you can enable it like this: Make a plugins directory in the Google Chrome folder sudo mkdir /opt/google/chrome/plugins cd to it cd /opt/google/chrome/plugins make a link from Firefox’s Flash Player plugin into the newly created folder sudo ln -s ~/.mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so Now launch the browser with this command: google-chrome --enable-plugins

You you have alloted a low space while installing, or you have upgraded your RAM, or you think you need some more swap space then what will you do. You can go to the partion table make make changes, but this can cause many problems. Instead you can just make a file and assign it to the swap. Just follow these steps for that. 1. Determine the size of the new swap file in megabytes and multiply by 1024 to determine the number of blocks. For example, the block size of a 1024 MB swap file is 1048576 . 2. Lets make a zero’d file for the swap using dd. At a shell prompt as root, type the following command with count being equal to the desired block size: dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=1024 count=1048576 2. Make the file as a swap file. Setup the swap file with the command: mkswp /swapfile 3. Activate swapfile. To enable the swap file immediately but not automatically at boot time: swapon /swapfile 4. Verify that our swapfile has been activated swapon -s or by viewing the output

Advanced gmail notifier for linux - Checkgmail - lets you control emails from the notification area Checkgmail Checkgmail is an application that stays in your notification area and whenever you receive a new email, it opens a small notification window and by clicking the window you are taken to your gmail account and when hovering the mouse over the icon, you have options to delete the email, archive, mark as spam and so on: The application also lets you undo your last action for instance undeleting an email. To install checkgmail in ubuntu, simply open a terminal and type: sudo apt-get install checkgmail Once the installation is over, you can launch it from applications > internet > checkgmail and enter your gmail credentials, checking interval and so on:

To remove a swap file: At a shell prompt as root, execute the following command to disable the swap file (where /swapfile is the swap file): # swapoff -v /swapfile Remove its entry from the /etc/fstab file. Remove the actual file: # rm /swapfile

The swap logical volume cannot be in use (no system locks or processes on the volume). The easiest way to achieve this it to boot your system in rescue mode. Refer to for instructions on booting into rescue mode. When prompted to mount the file system, select Skip . To remove a swap volume group (assuming /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol02 is the swap volume you want to remove, replace /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol02 with your HD partition ): Disable swapping for the associated logical volume: # swapoff -v /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol02 Remove the LVM2 logical volume of size 512 MB: # lvm lvremove /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol02 Remove the following entry from the /etc/fstab file: /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol02 swap swap defaults 0 0 Test that the logical volume has been extended properly: # cat /proc/swap

To reduce an LVM2 swap logical volume (assuming /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01 is the volume you want to extend): Replace /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01 with your HD partition. Disable swapping for the associated logical volume: # swapoff -v /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01 Reduce the LVM2 logical volume by 512 MB: # lvm lvreduce /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01 -L -512M Format the new swap space: # mkswap /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01 Enable the extended logical volume: # swapon -va Test that the logical volume has been reduced properly: # cat /proc/swaps or # free

Sometimes it can be prudent to reduce swap space after installation. For example, say you downgraded the amount of RAM in your system from 1 GB to 512 MB, but there is 2 GB of swap space still assigned. It might be advantageous to reduce the amount of swap space to 1 GB, since the larger 2 GB could be wasting disk space. You have three options: remove an entire LVM2 logical volume used for swap , remove a swap file , or reduce swap space on an existing LVM2 logical volume .

Make new application windows to start centered on the screen. Just do this for that: Press Alt+F2 and enter gconf-config, then set the following two values: Key: /apps/metacity/general/focus_new_windows Value: smart Key: /apps/compiz/plugins/place/screen0/options/mode Value: 1 Now your applications should start up nice and centered on the screen.

KeePassX Password Safe is a free, open-source, light-weight and easy-to-use password manager for Linux, Windows and Mac OSX. Originally KeePassX was called KeePass/L for Linux since it was a port of Windows password manager Keepass Password Safe. After KeePass/L became a cross platform application, it changed it's name to KeePassX KeePassX offers a little utility for secure password generation. The password generator is very customizable, fast and easy to use. Especially someone who generates passwords frequently will appreciate this feature. Ubuntu users: The application is available in the Ubuntu repositories, but if you want to install the latest version you can either add the KeePassX PPA, or direct download of .deb files Download KeePassX here

You can connect to a FTP server from linux through command line with ease. Just open a terminal and type: ftp example.com now you will be asked for name and password if present. Then, here is a list of commands to use Commands may be abbreviated. Commands are: ! debug mdir qc send $ dir mget sendport site account disconnect mkdir put size append exit mls pwd status ascii form mode quit struct bell get modtime quote system binary glob mput recv sunique bye hash newer reget tenex case help nmap rstatus tick cd idle nlist rhelp tra

After you have install and enabled compiz, you will still not have compiz started on restart. To make compiz start on bootup: Goto "system > preferences > Startup Application" and add compiz --replace Now restart your system.. you will have the compiz started on bootup.. Enjoy!..

You can make one autostartup script for ubuntu(debian) easily, and put commands to be started up automatically at boot. Here’s what you have to do: sudo nano /etc/init.d/ local.startup You can name the new file whatever you want, but in this example i haveused local.startup . Type #!/bin/sh on the first line of the file. Now type your command(s) underneath, one after the other. Now save and close and make the file executable with sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/local.startup Make the file to be recognized as an init script: sudo update-rc.d local.startup defaults 80 Now when you restart you will have the commands in the file auto started.

wbar is a quick-launch bar (not a dock) that has an appearance similar to Avant Window Manager and Cairo Dock. It is GTK (Gnome) based but can work in all desktop environments. It does not require a compositing manager to be installed and is therefore quicker and more suitable for low-end hardware systems. It is the default in the Google gOS desktop and is available as a .deb package from Google. Download and install (from the command-line Terminal): wget http://wbar.googlecode.com/files/wbar_1.3.3_i386.deb sudo dpkg -i wbar_1.3.3_i386.deb Start wbar with custom start options (e.g. by pressing alt+F2). Here is an example: wbar -isize 48 -j 1 -p bottom -balfa 40 -bpress -nanim 3 -z 2.5 -above-desk Here is another example: wbar -above-desk -pos bottom -isize 60 -nanim 1 -bpress -jumpf 0.0 -zoomf 1.5 For a full list of command-line startup options, see: wbar --help Tip: If you want the "wave" effect just increase the -nanim value. I like the icons to just pop up so I do

Grub is the bootup utility that controls which OS to load by default and other bootup settings. You can change Grub settings from the Startup Manager: System -> Administration -> Startup Manager If Startup Manager is not installed, install it: sudo apt-get install startupmanager Note: You can also edit the Grub settings manually from the command-line interface.

To find out the kernel release you are using, open the terminal and type: uname -r

On several situation you will need to find out the version of ubuntu (debian) installed in a system you are using. For that open the command terminal and type: lsb_release -a

To integrate google calendar events into your gnome desktop, go to google calendar, click on "settings" , then on the "calendars" tab and then on your calendar's name : Then, at the bottom there is a section called "private address:" > click on the "ical" green icon to get your private calendar url, Now all you have to do is open a terminal and paste this: /usr/lib/evolution-webcal/evolution-webcal url Replacing url with your ical private url you got in the step above. A window will pop up and here is where you can make the update frequency settings

If you want to find the details of an iso image before burning or using it, you can get that by just typing this at terminal: isoinfo -d -i filename.iso You’ll be show the details of the iso file, such as volume size, whether the image file is a bootable one, and many other valuable informations.

You can search Google.com from the Linux command line without using a command line web browser like lynx or Elinks. All u need is the curl and html2text packages installed. Then issue the following command: curl -A Mozilla http://www.google.com/search?q=Dipin+Krishna |html2text -width 60 where you can replace Dipin Krishna with another keyword of your choice. The results will be displayed in your console application with a width of 60. Few other examples: curl -A Mozilla http://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+install+ubuntu |html2text -width 80 curl -A Mozilla http://www.google.com/search?q=install+gtalk+in+ubuntu |html2text -width 100

Just follow the below steps to recover it. 1. Reboot your system and at the GRUB press "e" . Edit the first line and make sure it says "linux single". Then press "b" to boot the new entry line. 2. You will now have access to a BASH prompt. Enter the following commands: cd /etc nano passwd and look for a line somewhere at the top of the file that looks like this: root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash You must remove the "x" from that line so it will look like this: root::0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash And save the file. 3. Run the following command: nano shadow Edit the first line in the shadow file by removing the encrypted password. The line must now look exactly like this: root:::: Now save the file. 4. Reboot the system and log in as a normal user, then set your new root password using the following commands: $ sudo su $ passwd courtesy: http://www.geekinterview.com/talk/15727-linux-tips-recover-u-r-root.html

You may have noticed the blanking of screen after an idle timeout. This may be annoying while you are watching a movie. So If you want to disable the X screen blanking that comes up unexpectedly while you’re watching a movie in MPlayer or ..., Type this at terminal setterm -powersave off -blank 0 To make the change permanent, add the following to your ~/.xinitrc file : $ vi . xinitrc add this line setterm -blank 0 -powersave off -powerdown 0 xset s off

Even after you have successfully installed dansguardian in your system, you may a get an error 'Unable to getgrnam(): Success' when you try to run dansguardian. Follow these steps to solve this problem. 1. Check whether the user 'nobody' exists. $ cat /etc/passwd see whether 'nobody' is listed. If not found add it. 2. Check whether the group ' nogroup' exits. $ cat /etc/group see whether ' nogroup' is listed. If not found add it. 3. Now open the dansguardian.conf and edit: $ sudo vi /etc/dansguardian/dansguardian.conf uncomment and change # daemongroup = 'nobody' to daemongroup = 'nogroup' If you try to run dansguardian now you may get a error message like this: Error opening/creating log file. (check ownership and access rights). I am running as nobody and I am trying to open /var/log/dansguardian//access.log 4. Now change the permissions on your log files. $ sudo chown -R nobody:nogroup /var/log/dansguardian/ replace

1. Open the document that contains your artwork and prepare it for conversion. Save a copy in the same folder; using a copy will let you start over if something goes wrong. If necessary, clear any background color. You may have to use "Add Alpha Channel." If you plan on making an arrow-type cursor, move or rotate the artwork so the "tip" of the cursor is in the upper-left corner of the image. Make the "canvas" perfectly square, so that height=width, being careful to not distort your artwork. The artwork should cover at least one-third of the canvas, regardless of actual size. 2. Scale the image to 32 pixels in size, keeping it square and save it as a PNG image. Name the image after your artwork but also to remind you of what kind of cursor it is. The example is a default arrow-like cursor called "arrow.png". 3. Launch a text-editor to open a new text file; use "Save As..." immediately, giving it the same name as your cursor ima

If you choose to dual boot and run both Ubuntu 8.10 and Windows Vista, you run the risk of losing your data when a hard drive dies. To fix this, you can create a RAID10 setup. This tutorial will show you how to perform an Ubuntu and Windows dual boot with a RAID10 setup. Step 1: creating RAID set in BIOS After powering up the system, press CTRL-I to go to the Intel Matrix Storage Manager. Choose create RAID-volume. Choose a name, for example: diskset. Don't use numbers, some installation scripts in Ubuntu check for numbers in the disknames to determine if its a disk or a partition. I made the mistake to choose diskset1 as name. I wasn't able to rename the RAID volume, so I had to start all over! Choose RAID10, 64k stripe-size. Your RAID set is now created. Step 2: install Microsoft Windows This step is pretty straight-forward. Vista recoqnizes the RAID set and displays it as 1 single disk. During the install, create a partition for Windows and leave enough diskspace for

Start from wherever you left off You can make Ubuntu remember the applications you had open when you last logged out, so that when you log back in again you’ll find all those applications running and you can resume right from where you left off. To achieve this go to System > Preferences > Startup Applications , then go to the options tab and check "Automatically remember running applications when logging out"